Table of Contents

Status

This is a completely new version of the Houdini Engine for Unity plug-in, labelled as Version 2 (v2). It is currently in public beta and will be available alongside the older version (v1) of the plug-in. In the near future, once v2 is ready it will replace v1, and v1 will be deprecated.

This new version is written completely from the ground up for improved usability, updated feature set, and lightweight footprint in Unity projects.

Compatibility

Note that v2 is not compatible with v1 in the sense that:

It is not recommended to use both plug-in versions in the same Unity project.

HDAs that have already been instantiated and saved in a Unity project will need to be re-instantiated using the new plug-in. Currently there is no "upgrade" tool available to automate this.

Most HDAs used in the previous plug-in version should work similarly when re-instantiated in the Unity Editor, though some HDAs might require changes to the Unity-specific attributes.

Features

Version 2 supports most of the features found in Version 1. More features will be supported throughout development over the next few months. The following lists will be updated to reflect that.

Currently Working

Loading HDA files (*.hda,*.otl,*.otllc,*.hdalc,*.otlnc,*.hdanc).

Most of the SOPs that generate polygonal geometry.

All Parameter types except Ramps.

Houdini Materials (similar to Version 1).

Curve SOP and curve editing.

Input nodes and asset connections (Unity mesh, HDA).

Object instancing.

Packed primitives.

Roundtrip support of material assignments and mesh names for input meshes.